Consumerist
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hidden messages
MonaVie Hits Blogger Over 'Trademarks' In Metadata
UPDATED 9/15/09. See below. More » -
funny
Are You A Pro-Sumer? Let Bill Quain, PhD, Show You How!
Amway! There, we just saved you the trouble of reading Pro-Sumer Power!, Bill Quain's riveting get-rich-quick book from 2000, which Alan Scherstuhl found in a thrift store recently and recaps for your amusement over at the Village Voice. You see, producers make money. Consumers spend money. And Pro-sumers make money while they spend. Still not clear? You're a banana when you should be some sort of banana-gorilla hybrid. More » -
investigations
Consumerist Attends Robert Allen's Get Rich Quick In Real Estate Seminar
I wanted to find out what Robert Allen's "get-rich-quick in real estate with no money down" promise was all about, so when I saw a full page ad in the Daily Post advertising one of his free seminars recently, I went and checked it out. I'll give you a full run-down later, but here's the quick and dirty, and what I can tell about how the darn thing seems to function. More »
8:00 PM on Wed Oct 22 2008
By Ben Popken
29,663 views, 96 commentsMost discussed proskills: So, in the name of consumerism, you paid this tool $1500 to listen to him slowly speak about something anyone more »
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scams
Despite Subprime Implosion, Robert Allen's Troops Still Pitch "Get Rich Quick In Real Estate With No Money Down"
Robert Allen promises to make you millions teaching you how to buy real estate with no money down. Unsurprisingly, Ripoffreport is littered with complaints about his company and those that use his name. Here's the story they tell: More »
7:09 PM on Tue Oct 21 2008
By Ben Popken
13,249 views, 77 comments -
MonaVie
Just What The Heck Is MonaVie, And Should I Sell It?
An anonymous reader asks,
I've been approached by a friend to join up with MonaVie acai juice—it's a "superfood" juice that's sold through "network marketing." I actually do like the product, and this is a friend I trust, but my alarm bells are still going off. I don't want to get sucked into a scam, obviously. There's nothing about this company on your site, so I thought I'd drop you a line and see if you had any advice.
Here's our advice: don't do it! When you look at the business details and filter out the friend-of-a-friend stories, it's not worth the hassle. More »
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scams
How The Modern Pyramid Scheme Stays Barely Legal
The modern pyramid scheme has undergone slight tweaks in order to stay just with the bounds of the law, and still keep the fun scam times going. When you strip away all the pretty foil and chocolate, though, a naked Ponzi sits in the center, laughing his ass off. More »
7:24 PM on Fri Oct 5 2007
By Ben Popken
11,949 views, 63 commentsLatest by mikagsd: For those of you bashing the entire network marketing industry, did you ever stop to think about the fact Warren more »
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ds-max
4 Typical DS-MAX MLM Scam Job Ads Found On Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder And Jobster
Using the names of companies accused of being DS-Max (now known as Innovage) subsidiaries/affiliates on Ripoffreport and a list on DS-Max The Aftermath, I did a search of Monster, Hot Jobs, and other job sites to pick out real ads that are out there and should be avoided. More » -
ds-max
How To Spot A DS-MAX Style MLM Scam Job Ad
Here are some of the qualities of a "business" operating under DS-MAX (now known as Innovage, though the same company owns both trademarks...) principles, an organization responsible for many complaints alleging scams, fraud, and general employee deprivation in a "sales-cult" atmosphere. More » -
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brandwashing
Amway's Baaaaaaccck!
Like a sequel to a horror movie, the Amway brand name is bursting out of a shallow grave, reports ABCmoney:The move also was widely viewed as a way of helping the company shed some of the negative connotations the Amway name had acquired. The Quixtar name, however, never resonated with the public.
More » -
sock puppets
Nu-Life Owns The Trademarks For Innovage AND DS-MAX
Nu-Life, the company so mad at us about "adversely" affecting its DS-MAX trademark, saying that old DS-MAX became Innovage and Nu-Life has nothing to do with the actions of old DS-MAX or new Innovage... More » -
quantum marketing
Man Escapes Working For DS-MAX-esque Charity Scam, Lives To Blogs His Tale
A reader who used to work for Quantum Marketing, one of the "Aftermax" companies, (the term for companies that old DS-MAX (now known as Innovage) spawned), wrote several posts describing how his company scammed people who thought they were donating money to D.A.R.E. More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Table Of Contents
In case you missed any of 7-part undercover report on IDT-Energy, Midtown Promotions, and the fabulous worlds of energy resale and multi-level-marketing, here's a recap: More » -
investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Confession
After only three days with Midtown Promotions, I could already tell that I'd wait weeks, maybe months or a full year before coming upon hard evidence of fraud, if I found any evidence at all. After leaving James and Doreen in the Bronx, I took the afternoon off and went to work on these diaries. More »
3:35 PM on Fri Jun 8 2007
By consumerintern
14,935 views, 49 commentsLatest by MargaretHapjo: ack! Just read this series of articles in its entirety, and to be truthful, It made me feel more pissed more »
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investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meltdown
From the moment I met up with James, and Doreen, who was going our way, things began to fall apart. Eric told me to follow James, not Carl, who was going solo. I was to listen to James' instructions, follow his example, and go to wherever he decided we should spend the day. Today was Mt. Vernon, NY, almost 90 minutes from the offices of Midtown Promotions. More »
5:53 PM on Thu Jun 7 2007
By Ben Popken
16,288 views, 68 commentsLatest by Ben Popken: Mantari, never ever do that again. Thank you. more »
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investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: Status Report
If you're just now tuning in, we've been doling out daily pieces of our multi-part investigation into IDT-Energy. They're an energy reseller in the New York area and we've received multiple complaints about their salesperson's dressing as ConEd workers and doing other funny stuff at the door to get people to sign over. So we sent in Brian Fairbanks undercover to get hired at Midtown Promotions, a direct-sales marketing company IDT-Energy contracted to get subscribers. More »
3:11 PM on Thu Jun 7 2007
By Ben Popken
2,619 views, 24 commentsLatest by jurgis: Yeah, "the Meltdown" was posted yesterday after this... most of us did complain that it was fairly weak investigative journalism more »
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investigations
Consumerist Undercover At IDT Energy: The Meeting
Before the morning meeting started, I left my man-purse on a set of boxes right by the blackboard, with the microphone discreetly poking out of the pocket. More »
1:38 PM on Wed Jun 6 2007
By Ben Popken
14,948 views, 34 comments -
multi-level-marketing
13 Confession Of A Former DS-MAX Manager
This is almost everything you need know about DS-MAX (now known as Innovage), the super-shady multi-level-marketing group whose business practices seems to have inspired the Midtown Promotions office we're looking into. It's culled from an excellent post over at DS-MAX: The Aftermath: More »
mlm
New York, 8:53 AM
Sun Nov 22
8 posts in the last 24 hours
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